Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 434 The Most Intimidating Eunuch

Zhu Youtang is a real child.

When faced with a dilemma, he would not be as stubborn as his father and make a rash decision, or simply quit and leave others to worry about it.

To be on the safe side, he immediately asked Qin Chang to summon several important ministers to the palace to discuss the matter.

In addition to the Minister of Personnel Li Yu, those who were summoned to the meeting included the Chief Minister of the Cabinet Wan'an, the Second Minister Liu Ji, the Left Vice Minister of Personnel Xu Pu, the Minister of Rites Zhou Hongmo, and the Right Vice Minister Xu Qiong.

In Zhu Youtang's opinion, these people were all very polite, and there should be nothing wrong in asking them questions when the issue of choosing a location for the previous emperor's mausoleum came up.

It seemed normal for other people to be summoned into the palace, but it was a bit unexpected that Xu Pu, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was also among those summoned.

Because everyone knew that the prince wanted to support a new person to join the cabinet, this person had been considered by several important officials to be Zhang Luan. However, Zhang Luan did not meet the requirements from his background to his qualifications, and Zhang Luan himself took the initiative to resign and even recommended Xu Pu to the prince.

In addition, Xu Pu was the highest-ranking lecturer in the Eastern Palace, so it was natural for him to enter the cabinet.

This time, coming here in response to the imperial edict was more seen as a test of Xu Pu by the prince.

"I don't know why, but the things reported by my father-in-law and Mr. Ni seem to be very different, but when you think about it carefully, they are the same thing. They are both very dissatisfied with each other... Can you tell me why?"

Zhu Youtang spoke in a very casual tone.

The way he addressed Zhang Luan seemed more intimate. If one didn't know the truth, one would think that the prince's attitude was directly biased towards Zhang Luan.

Only those who are familiar with Zhu Youtang know that the prince is actually an upright person who usually stands on the side of justice rather than his relatives.

Liu Ji hurried out and said respectfully, "Your Highness, in my opinion, since there is a dispute, the person who is actually responsible for the matter should be the one who makes the decision. Logically speaking... Zhang Xueshi submitted the memorial first and had already chosen the location of the imperial mausoleum. Later, Minister Ni of the Ministry of Rites reported again, but he impeached Zhang Xueshi for not doing the emperor's job. This is clearly..."

"Just say whatever you want to say, no need to hide it..."

Zhu Youtang really disliked Liu Ji's roundabout speaking style.

Liu Ji said: "I stand on the side of Mr. Zhang, and I think Minister Ni is just making trouble out of nothing."

Wan An couldn't help but glare at Liu Ji.

It seems like asking, why are you stealing my lines?

You bastard, you've also learned to change your attitude according to the situation, right? Knowing that Zhang Laizhan is in power, you stand on his side without knowing the truth?

Sorry, I'm on his side too... and there's no reason for that either!

Li Yu said: "Your Majesty, since there are two alternative plans, and both sides say that they are the ones who did it, then there may be some misunderstanding in the middle, and we should not directly blame anyone. If both sides accuse the other side of not doing their best, the biggest possibility is that they failed to work together when doing things."

At this moment, Li Yu wanted to come out and stir up trouble.

As the Minister of Personnel who rose to the top by currying favor with Li Zisheng, Li Yu knew that this would be the end of his official career. He was also aware that a major reshuffle of the central government was imminent and that he would not be able to stay as the Minister for long, so there was no need for him to consider the issue from anyone's perspective.

Anyway, as long as he doesn't make any serious mistakes, he will retire soon and return to his hometown to enjoy his retirement.

What he should focus on now is how to pass on his political resources. As for seeking official positions and status in the new dynasty for himself, it no longer makes any sense.

Zhu Youtang nodded: "I also think that both sides should have good intentions... Do you have any other opinions?"

The Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and the Minister of Personnel had already spoken out, and the rest of the people basically remained neutral and did not want to get involved in the dispute between Ni Yue and Zhang Luan.

But at this moment, Xu Pu stepped out and said, "Your Highness, I have a different opinion."

"Mr. Xu, if you have any opinion, please tell me."

Zhu Youtang waved his hand and said, "You can say anything. There is no need to be shy here."

Xu Pu then said, "From what I have seen, after both parties arrived at Tianshou Mountain, they did not cooperate in selecting a site, and they attacked each other. They must have both made mistakes. It's just a matter of who made the bigger mistake."

Wan An said quickly, "Minister Xu, it is not appropriate to make random accusations here. His Majesty has just passed away, and everything should be done in a peaceful manner."

"Lord Wan, in my opinion, we must find out who is right and who is wrong." Xu Pu said solemnly, "When it comes to the selection of the site for the imperial mausoleum, we must be extremely cautious. If the two parties who went to select the site rashly chose an unlucky place as the location of the imperial mausoleum out of spite, but claimed that it was a good place for Feng Shui, can such a site be adopted?"

Wan'an glanced at the Minister of Personnel Li Yu, as if to say, why don't you control your subordinates?

Just let him make noise here?
"I have heard that."

Xu Pu added, "Eunuch Huai has arrived in the capital. He has experience in dealing with people. Why not listen to his advice?"

This statement is somewhat offensive to Wei Tai and Qin Chang.

Wei Tai frowned and looked at Xu Pu.

I thought to myself, what do you mean?
An old eunuch who was summoned back to the capital has not even been assigned an official position yet, and you actually want the prince to listen to his opinions? Who do the eunuchs respect now?

You don't want to do this anymore, right?

Zhu Youtang was delighted when he heard this, and then asked in confusion: "Yes, since Huai Daban has returned to the capital, why didn't he enter the palace? When did he arrive in the capital?"

Wei Tai said: "Your Highness, the people have arrived, but they just need to rest for two days..."

"no need."

Zhu Youtang said firmly, "Please ask him to come over quickly. I also want to hear his opinion on this matter."

……

……

Everyone could have left the palace after the discussion.

However, due to Xu Pu's sudden suggestion, they had to stay in Wenhua Hall and wait for Huai'en to enter the palace.

After waiting for about half an hour, Huai En finally arrived. At this time, the discussion on the site selection of the imperial mausoleum had made no progress.

"This old servant pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

When Huai En saw Zhu Youtang, he was very excited and knelt down to kowtow. Zhu Youtang quickly stood up, walked around the table and went down the jade steps, personally helped Huai En up, and said emotionally: "Huai Daban, you are finally back. Long time no see, are you okay?"

Wynn seemed very excited.

The prince in front of him was the one he watched grow up with his own eyes. He used to be dull and timid, and was often bullied.

In order to maintain the legal system of the Ming Dynasty, he always stood firmly on the side of the Eastern Palace, doing his best to protect the prince and safeguard the prince's interests. In the end, he was even exiled by the late emperor to guard the imperial mausoleum.

It can be said that Huai En played an indispensable role in Zhu Youtang's safe and sound growth.

Seeing the prince finally grow into a towering tree, he felt very happy and at the same time, he put his mind at ease.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I am fine."

Huai En's eyes were red, and he choked up and said, "I was shocked to hear that the Holy Lord had traveled to heaven. It was like a bolt from the blue. My heart and liver were broken... I couldn't sleep or eat well before and after entering the capital..."

At this point, Huai'en hugged Zhu Youtang and burst into tears.

The people present couldn't help but wipe away their tears.

While Wan An was pretending to wipe his tears, he was thinking, you ballless guy, why are you pretending to be so smart at this time?

When the late emperor banished you from the capital, weren't you angry?
Now that the prince is about to ascend the throne, he has called you back and entrusted you with an important task. You should be happy.

If it were me, I would definitely be secretly happy right now.

"Huai Daban, come here quickly... You are old and weak, and the journey has been bumpy, so I'm sure you can't stand it... Hurry and bring a chair over to Huai Daban."

Zhu Youtang returned to the throne and waved to Huai'en.

"No, no, I will just stand here."

Huai En didn't want to admit that he was so old that he couldn't move.

But the prince respected him so much that he finally allowed the eunuch to find a chair. He walked forward and sat down leisurely.

As a result, Huai En became the only one present who had a seat, except for the prince.

If it were someone else, it would definitely cause dissatisfaction.

But this is Wynn...

Even someone as cunning as Prime Minister Wan'an couldn't help but feel uneasy after looking at Huai'en.

Thinking back to when Huai En was in the court, he stirred up court affairs all by himself, and everyone was played around by Huai En. That kind of oppressive power made people feel powerless.

Even after Huai'en left Beijing, Zhu Jianshen specially convened a meeting of his close ministers to discuss whose opinion should be followed in the future. In the end, no result was reached after much discussion... It all came down to the fact that everyone knew that when it came to the ability to govern a country, no one could compare to Huai'en.

But this does not mean that Huai En was the wisest person in the court. It can only be said that among those who held high positions at that time, no one was more capable than Huai En.

There were capable people in the court at that time, but they did not climb to high positions, nor could they bypass the class system to directly ascend to the throne. This led to the situation where, after Huai'en left, there was almost no one in the Ming court who could be entrusted with important tasks. Later... this was the story of Li Zisheng's ascension to the throne.

Wan'an couldn't help but wonder, why wasn't Lao Li here?

With Old Li here, at least he can act as a deterrent to the old eunuch... I can't do that anyway.

Zhu Youtang said, "Huai Daban, we are discussing the selection of a site for our father's mausoleum... Here are two memorials, take a look."

After saying this, Zhu Youtang did not avoid suspicion and directly handed the two memorials to Huai'en.

Huai En hadn't dealt with government affairs for a long time, but he was not flustered at all. He took it and read it hastily, and he roughly knew what was going on.

Huai En said: "In my opinion, this matter should be thoroughly investigated."

Wan An frowned and said, "Eunuch Huai, your opinion coincides with someone else's, but I don't know how to investigate it?"

"It's not like there are only one or two people in the court who understand Feng Shui. Since the person ordered by the emperor to do the job has given two different plans on the location of the imperial mausoleum, we should find more knowledgeable people to survey the site without telling them in advance which one was chosen, so that they can express their opinions directly. At the same time, we can also add some alternatives for them to discuss together." Huai En said.

After hearing this, Zhu Youtang's eyes lit up and he praised, "Huai Daban's words make sense. Since both sides think that what they say makes sense and that the other side is not doing well, let more people investigate and compare and verify, then we will know who is slacking off."

"This is a very good plan."

Liu Ji jumped out to agree.

Wan An couldn't help but glare at Liu Ji fiercely.

It seems to be saying, you are not going to turn around and join Huai En's camp after discovering that Huai En has returned and is deeply trusted by the prince, right?

I advise you not to be wishful thinking!
It goes without saying that Huai En is extremely capable. For example, his refusal to interact with foreign officials was an ironclad decision from the beginning, and it should not change after his return this time.

Curry favor with Wynn...

It's all in vain.

"Then everyone, do you have any other opinions on this matter?"

Zhu Youtang then asked the other people present.

Even Huai En said so, Wan An, Li Yu and others had to give in.

The main reason is that I can’t object.

Huai En was too imposing, and the opinions he raised were very pertinent. He neither sided with Ni Yue nor with the upstart Zhang Luan, which meant he had no bias at all.

Whoever speaks out will inevitably offend Huai En right from the start, and everyone feels it is not worth it.

"Since I have no opinion..."

Zhu Youtang stood up and said loudly: "Then send more people to Tianshou Mountain. By the way... you can let Mr. Ni and my father-in-law come back! Don't let them know about this for the time being, otherwise... they will think that the court doesn't trust them!"

(End of this chapter)